Hybrid electric vehicles are generally equipped with an algorithm to determine when to start or stop the engine based on a sequence of factors related to powertrain states and vehicle states. The engine will be kept in an “off” state or be stopped when there is not an engine-on request or when there is an engine-off request. Otherwise, the engine will be automatically started when an engine-on request is sent based on a variety of factors including battery state of charge or vehicle speed. In general, hybrid electric vehicle strategies may implement a fixed threshold to determine when to provide an engine-on request or engine-off request. For example, an engine-on request may be provided at high positive vehicle speed, and no request will be provided at low vehicle speeds.